Need more Pickleball courts
 

The local paper mentioned that The Villages has 182 pickleball courts, the most of any single location in the world. However, not a single court was added in 2018.

While it looks like twelve new courts at the under construction Everglades regional rec center will be added in 2019, they are a little bit behind the curve in my estimation of the need for courts.

You didn't mention if you had difficulty getting a court?

It is high season. All activities are more crowded and the popular ones there is a wait. That is because the place is flooded with those likeable, loveable, seasonal residents that pay their amenity fees year 'round. Bless their little round heads.

I have been playing year around for the past two years playing around 4 to 5 days a week. So, I understand the court situation fairly well. However, all of this talk doesn’t change the fact that not one pickleball court was added in 2018. Behind the curve which would be a little unusual for The Villages?

When my wife and I came here 20 years ago, and expansion was in full swing, recreational facilities were put in before, or alongside new housing.
The latest developments have reversed that trend completely. Now it is houses first, and recreational facilities after, which until the new areas catch up, is going to put a strain on existing facilities.
Also from what I can make out, the ratio of facilities to housing is shrinking as well.

Your post makes me wonder what amenities were added to and/or improved in 2018 that would have added to the enjoyment of residents involved in activities other than pickleball.

...

According to the same paper today there are 121,000 residents in TV and last year on this same date there were 123,966 residents in TV Metropolitan Statistical Area. These figures are not comparing apples with apples and are a bit confusing. They did however put in more holes of golf, archery, air rifle, dog park, bag toss, bocce, shuffleboard, pools, outdoor exercise equipment, etc. Next year will bring much more including Softball and Soccer fields, RC cars and boats, lots of new stuff on the horizon. Does anyone ever use the horseshoes that are scattered around the recreation areas?

Not sure what the "curve" is? Have you talked to the District to understand the ratio? Have you asked for the projections? Also, this appears to be the largest expansion in The Villages history and amenities require residents so I suspect sales will take priority.

From the Daily Sun.
Recreational opportunities flourish with more to come | News | thevillagesdailysun.com

I feel for you all below the mason dixon line having to travel mile or less to next rec center. Where I live in the nortorious district 4 it’s 4 miles to next tennis, pickleball, or billiards tables. District 3 fairs little better, but, not much.

The District usually isn’t involved in the construction of new recreation facilities with the exception of the church property up north. The Developer might be placing a greater emphasis on sales than building new amenities. But again, my focus is on the construction of new pickleball courts as it will soon be two years, March 31, 2017 since a new court has been placed in operation.

The District has the responsibility for maintenance and staffing so I assume they need to project needs. You could also reach out to the Developer and the District can also help with that. I doubt any more courts will be built above 44 so your needs will need to be filled by the new construction.

When there are more new houses built above Route 44, then it will be reasonable to build more courts above Route 44.

At the present time, the new houses are being built south of the Turnpike, and that is where the new courts are being built. Makes sense to me.

My point is that there have been no new courts built since March 2017 in all of TV including both above and below 44. Are they too slow in building courts? I believe that they are.

Usually they are ahead of the demand to show prospective home owners what they have to use.

I believe all the recreation facilities above 44 have been built so not sure where they would put them. I suspect any new courts would need to be below 44. Have any regional or neighborhood recreation centers been built in the last two years? Moyer, Burnsed, Rohan all have them.

The newest courts are located in the Spanish Moss Recreation Center in the Village of Fenney. That was opened in March of 2017. It's now 2019 and Happy New Year.

I believe there are a couple of activity issues at play re Southern Oaks. There clearly are a current lack of PB courts south of Rt 44.Other than Everglades RC, I did not see any PB courts scheduled to be opened at any rec center in the Daily Sun supplement magazine today. Another impact issue is the lack of scheduling beginner, advanced beginner and intermediate PB at 10 am at the rec centers where nothing is scheduled at 10 am. For example, for yrs, the only advanced beginner PB scheduled on Friday 10 am is Big Cypress and a far north rec center. During snowbird season, this results in lines of 25 to 40 people waiting to play. For every 24 waiting the wait is at least 15 minutes. The Rec Dept has been made aware of this, for yrs, yet no apparent effort to solve the 10 am long lines problem.

The other glaring Southern Oaks activity omission is the current lack of any championship golf courses. Today's supplement shows one 18 hole course (as opposed to the usual 27) planned for some future date east of Monarch Grove. That has to be at least 2 yrs away.

It's been much longer since championship golf has been added, and the sports pools are very overcrowded and offer very limited dedicated lap swimming time. I agree that availability of certain recreational activities are not keeping pace with the population growth.

I was under the impression that the southern villages were being built to appeal more toward those who like nature and more of the natural outdoor activities. This is why they concentrated less on courts and championship golf course and more on nature trails, dog parks, archery ranges and such. Are the pickle ball courts south of 44 busier than Rohan?

I am doubtful the residents south of 44 are what is making the pickleball courts north of 44 busy. In the off season I’ve seen an explosion of pickleball 101, 102, and 103 classes being taught all over. They became so ubiquitous they weren’t even full. This means there are lots more trained pickleball folks ready to take on the beginner, advanced beginner and open crowds.

I don't play pickleball but walk my dog in the park at the pickelball courts in Fenney. I don't know that I have ever seen anyone waiting to play and most of the time they're empty. I'm sure there are times throughout the day that they are very busy with leagues, etc. but not all day long.

Hopefully they will build courts up north by the new rec center by 1st Baptist Church of The Villages.

The quickest, cheapest solution to adding court time would to be to install lights at those rec centers where the lights wouldn't infringe on neighboring houses (Colony would be an example). This would add an additional x number of court hours during the early twilight winter times when the demand is greatest and also offer a safer option in the summer when demand is low but the heat is high. Just a thought

Good idea:coolsmiley:

I wish manatee would have open pickleball at 10 am .:pray::pray::pray:

You read my mind. Could you even imagine.

Could be done at Rohan, Eisenhower and some others without issues. However, it's highly unlikely to be done as many don't like changes and the costs.

There are houses behind Eisenhower and I suspect sitting on your Lanai for drinks and listening to the soothing sounds of pickleball won't be high on anyone's amenity list. I said it before, reach out to John Rohan and ask the question. Discussion here won't accomplish anything.

::agree:

Recreation Administration
984 Old Mill Run
The Villages, FL 32162

Phone: 352-674-1800
Fax: 352-674-1805

Another way to add more pickleball courts would be to add painted pickleball court lines to the tennis courts. Years ago that's what they did in our Michigan community so the little used tennis courts in the area could support the pickleball. Maybe the rec dept. doesn't want to provide the tool to lower the net the couple inches required, but players could get used to the higher net. Or they could leave the tool in the equipment sheds.


We even played indoor pickleball in Michigan on a church's indoor basketball courts. The pickleball lines were painted a different color than the basketball lines. It wasn't hard to get used to. If you can get used to lines over a basketball court, adding lines to tennis courts wouldln't be a problem. Even now, there are some tennis courts with short court lines added.

Adding lines to the tennis courts is a cheap answer.

I'm wondering where you got this impression. The draw of TV has always been the many different activities available throughout the community, and outdoor sports has always been extremely popular. I think there have been people who have defended against the negative comments when Fenney opened by stating that it was serene, had nature trails, and was uncrowded. The uncrowded part will not remain as building continues. These are almost the only new builds available, and I doubt everyone building there is doing it for the nature alone.

At Eisenhower? No way. Houses to the side and rear. What are the “some others” you refer to. IMHO, you’ll never see lighted courts here.

I was looking to move our tennis game and I got to tell you, it was very hard to find unreserved tennis courts for 8-11 in the morning. But later in the day, if there is still a need for pickleball courts, the tennis courts are often free.

When I’ve seen tennis and pickleball courts shared they use smaller nets on casters for the pickleball nets. The tennis nets are used as the fence between the pickle ball courts. If you have two tennis courts side by side you can get six pickle ball courts.

Raising and lowering tennis nets tends to wear out the net hardware fairly quickly. It might be a maintenance nightmare to attempt to do that daily. Not to mention trying to get recreation staff to pick up that chore, as you really don’t want just anyone attempting to play with the nets.

[QUOTE=CFrance;1612673]Another way to add more pickleball courts would be to add painted pickleball court lines to the tennis courts. Years ago that's what they did in our Michigan community so the little used tennis courts in the area could support the pickleball. Maybe the rec dept. doesn't want to provide the tool to lower the net the couple inches required, but players could get used to the higher net. Or they could leave the tool in the equipment sheds.






Not really the net posts net height aren’t the same, so you would have to have temporary nets and some one to set them up and take them down




Well IMO when you have rec center close there should be either pickleball courts or tennis courts. Example is saddle brook and laurel manor. Saddle brook could make 6 more pickle ball courts out of tennis courts And LAUREL manor could be all tennis courts. So you would get two more pickleball courts and three tennis courts, plus the noise from pickleball would be separated from tennis.

Most tennis courts are reserved usually till noon at most rec centers. in district 4 which only have 4 courts north of el Camino Reno at Chatham are reserved everyday till 11 am and the only 4 court design that don’t have warm up back board, another short changed in district 4

Ther are two places prefect for lighted pickleball. Paradise has two beside the lighted tennis courts and cross 441 at La Hacienda. No house nearby and the traffic from 441 will drown out the noise anyway.

The quickest, cheapest solution is less players.


:clap2:

Another option

Or glo in the dark balls and lines:shocked:

:ohdear: or less villagers

I will be surprised it they do. Probably be the horseshoe capitol of the villages. Starting the 7th January district 4 residents can put their two cents in and be trumped by nickel. Two tennis courts with practice backboard would be nice, platform tennis courts would be nice, badminton courts would be nice, 3 wall racketball/ handball courts would be nice, pitching green would be nice.